This is quote from BassPlayer/9/1996:
After years of favored P-Bass and a brief period of experimentation with various instruments, Freeman has settled on the Fender Jazz as his axe of choice. "For a while", he grins, "I had this thing about buying cheap basses - you know ´I´m a punk rocker,´ and all that. They´d sound okay, but when I went on tour they´d fall apart. Finally, I just saved my money and bought two Jazz Basses. They sound really good, and they´ve got very thin necks, which helps me because my hands are small."
When his roadworn Acoustic 320 head and 4x15 cabinet finally needed rest, Matt found himself on the market for a new rig. "I´d always gone for whatever looked durable and woudln´t be too big a loss if it got ripped off," he laughs. "So when we began recording, I didn´t know what to get. Then I went next door where Jawbreaker was recording and asked their producer, Rob Cavallo - the guy who did Green Day - `Dude, what did Mike Dirnt play on Dookie?` I really liked that sound, and Rob told me it was an Ampeg SVT-II Pro. I went right out and bought one!" The big tube head powers a single Ampeg 8X10 cabinet, and Matt says that´s plenty. "In places with good PAs, youi don´t really need a ballbuster. This SVT pumps - plus I go direct at clubs. I mean, how much amp do you want?"
(end quote)
So as I´ve understood it, the first two records(Rancid & Let´s Go) he recorded with that Acoustic 320 /w 4x15 and P-bass and then ...And out come the wolves with Ampeg SVT-II Pro /w 8x10 and P-bass and never recorded with that J-Bass. On Life won´t wait and Rancid(2000) he used mainly GK RB2001 and a custom Ibanez - I could be wrong on the model, just guessing - sr4. I´ve also seen an early Rancid pic(or could actually be Operation Ivy pic as well) with Matt playing a MusicMan Stingray I myself like his sound best on "...And out come the wolves". Haven´t got a clue on what he used with Operation Ivy. I have seen pics but can´t identify the bass(es).
Also interesting was what he said in BassPlayer/don´t-remember-the-issue(I´ve got that somewhere but too lazy to search now)/1998 that Bloodclot was recorded with his RB2001 /w 8x10 and Acoustic 320 /w 4x15 both running at the same time. Personally I think his sound on Bloodclot was brilliant, I´d kill to get that sound
Christ...that must have been a wall...not only in physical size, but in sound as well.
I managed to find that BassPlayer about Bloodclot(that was August 1998):
